Naruto and Ino: A tale of two blonds
by Exileof2012
Summary: NaruIno. Nartuo finds Ino has a softer side and can't decide if he likes Ino as a friend or something more. Only one thing is for sure, it's gonna be one hell of a ride. Co Written by SonOfKakashi
1. Chapter 1

Yo! This is the intro. SOK (Andy) and I are co-writing this one cuase

I'm a newbie! I really love this couple and Andy is a good writer so this should be this may be a three shot or a chapter story we're not sure. In fact we're not sure of anything in this story Andy has summer school and I have camp so we really don't know how often this will get updated. Alright then one more thing _thins means thought_ that's about it so now for the story.

**Chapter 1**

For a certain loud mouth, fox-like, blond, life couldn't get more boring. All the missions were very low level. Even pulling pranks on the villigers had started to lose it's former fun. To make matters worse his landlord kicked him out for to many missed payments. Naruto needed a place to stay. Naruto needed a hobby. Naruto needed a life.

Naruto couldn't swallow his pride to ask his friends for a place to stay, so he had taken to sleeping in on assorted roof top area. He really didn't mind all that much. I mean it was only temporary, right?

Naruto continued to live this way for three months until one night at a weird, cheap, song bar…

_Damn, this place is shit! Song bar my ass, no one here can even sing. _Naruto looked down at his ramen. _Holy cow, swear I saw something move in there. Oh, well it's ramen isn't it?_ Naruto dug in trying not to look at his murky looking bowl. _This taste like shit! Man I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for the fact that Ichiraku's is closed for repair. _Naruto continues to eat occasionally looking up at the singers, who are always creepy and/or terrible singers. _Damn, this is the last time I come here. This place even makes me start to dislike ramen! _Naruto asks for the bill and is about to pay and leave when someone catches his eye, up on the stage is none other than Ino. _INO?!?!? Sense when does she work here? It looks like she's about to sing. I kind of want to watch it. _Naruto's not sure why he wants to stick around for the show, but feels like he has to.

"Well hi everybody! I'm kind of an amateur at this so please stick with me." Ino smiles and every tooth she has gleams. Ino takes a drink of water and begins again. "The first song I'll be singing tonight, will be-"

"Get on with it you dumb blond!" the voice belongs to a rather large man sitting in the back of the room.

"Alright give me a sec, I'll get the song soon just let me-"

"Come on you stupid blond, just sing!" The fat man interrupts again.

"Please just let me-"

"I'll bet you can't even sing you stupid blond bitch!"

"Hey!" Ino yells, much irritation in her voice. "You're lucky I have to be nice to customers, or I'd have hit you by now, you stupid fat-ass!!!" Then Ino coverers her mouth "Oops…"

Just then the manager walks up to the girl and escorts her off stage.

Naruto is feeling fighsty and when he sees Ino's situation, and the rude idiot who had no reason to call her all those names, just rubs him the wrong way. Naruto walks towards the fat man. When he reachs the man, he taps the short fat man on the shoulder.

"What do you want, blondy." The fat man says looking up at the blond.

"Leave Ino alone!" Naruto growls out.

"What?" the fat man says looking quite confused.

"Leave," Naruto cletches his fists, "Ino," Naruto pulls his hand back, "ALONE!" Naruto punches the fat man in the face.

"HELP, HELP ME!" the fat man screams in pain as he rolls around on the ground, holding his broken nose.

Instantly bouncers are all over Naruto. About twelve of them Naruto thrashes around as the bouncers "escort" Naruto from the bar. After Naruto knocks a couple of them out of course.

"To hell with you and your damn bar!" Naruto shouts as he's tossed out the door and lands on his head. "Ow, that hurt like hell."

"Naruto?" Naruto looks around for the source of the voice, but everything is blurry from when he was tossed out the door. Finally is eyes foucus to reveil a young blond.

"Oh hey Ino!" Naruto jumps to his feet, and flashes his fox-like grin.

"Naruto did you see…" Ino's voice trails off obviously she's embarssed.

"Oh that, yeah I saw. That guy was a jerk, but I got a few good hits on him before they tossed me out.

"You stuck up for me?" Ino asked amazed.

"Course." Naruto gives the girl another huge grin.

"Why, you don't even know me that much?"

"Guys like that just rub me the wrong way, so when do I get to see you perform again at this joint?"

"You don't." tears start to pool in Ino's eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Naruto I was fired!" the young girl throws herself into Naruto's arms. Naruto is startled at first, but then returns the embrace. "I've always wanted to sing, a-a-and then th-this chance came along and I blew it" Ino grabs Naruto's shirt.

"Ino come on. I'm sure another chance will come along. Lets get out of here, I'll walk you to your place." Ino squeazes Naruto close and then lets go.

"O-okay" Ino says drying here tears on her sleeve. The two begin to walk down the dimly lit street.

"So Ino you always wanted to sing. How come you never told anyone?"

"Well I guess I never thought anybody would care."

"I'd like to here you sometime."

"Really? I'm not very good."

"I'm sure you're great." Naruto's smiles, and Ino blushes finally they arrive at Ino's house.

"Naruto?"

"Yeah"

"Want to come in?"

"Well…" Naruto was unsure, but then remembered the cold roof tops. "I'd love that."

Naruto enters the house and is surpised to see all the flowers in the little home.

"Wow, Ino this is amazing"

"Yeah. Really love the flowers. There's one for every mood, and if you close your eyes just like…" Ino closes her eyes lightly. "….and take a deep breath, you can smell all the flowers mixed together. It's…" Ino's voice starts to trail off.

"Beautiful?"

"Yeah beautiful." She smiles.

_Wow she's really pretty. Wait, what!?_

"Anyways, want anything to drink?" Ino asks opening her refrigerator.

"Sure, anything is fine."

"So, Naruto, do you think this is kinda werid?" Ino said handing him a can of soda. She sits down and opens her own can.

"What?" Naruto says as he takes a sip from his can.

"Well you and I almost never hang out, and now here we are sipping soda like good ol' pals."

"Eh"

"What's up with guys and 'eh'? Answer for goodness sake!" Ino reaches over and punches Naruto in the arm causing him to spill his soda all over the both of them and on the couch that they were sitting on.

"Oh shit, sorry!" Naruto exsclaimed.

"Its okay, it was my fault anyway. I'll take a shower and you can clean this mess up. I would, but….I just don't want to…" Ino smiles michviuosly, "…and don't try to take a peak!"

"Don't flatter yourself." Naruto states, rolling his eyes. Ino just let out a small 'Yeah Right' before entering the bathroom.

Naruto cleans the mess up quickly enough. After he finishes up he sits on the couch and begins to think_. Ino was right, it dose smell good in here. Man what's up with this weird feeling when I'm around her… do I like her romantically, no, this feeling isn't like when I'm by Sakura, and I like Sakura romantically, right? Nah couldn't be I'm just starting to get to know Ino. Well one thing's for sure this place is way better than my rooftop._

"Hey you done cleaning?" Ino calls from the bathroom. The shower is now turned off.

"Yeah I'm done!" Naruto yells back.

"Could you look away for a sec, I'm only wearing a towel."

"S-sure," Naruto blushes and turns the other way.

After nearly a minute Ino is done.

"Alrighty, you can look now."

Naruto turns around to see the lovely blond wearing baggy boxers and a t-shirt.

"Hey, you got all sticky too, right?" Ino looking completely innocent (Truly innocent, no sick thoughts you perverts out there). "You should go take a shower. Here put your clothes outside the bathroom door so I can wash them."

"Okay." Naruto walks down the hall into the bathroom, he takes off his clthes and opens the door enough to throw his clothes out, then goes to the shower . He gets into the shower and he turns on the hot water. Naruto mulls things over while the hot water hits his cold body.

"Naruto!" Ino calls through the door.

"Yeah!" Naruto answers.

"I'm leaving some dry clothes by the door."

"Kay! Thanks Ino"

Naruto towels off after about 7 minutes and gets dressed in the clean shirt and baggy shorts.

"Sorry, that is all I had here." Ino looks up from a magazine.

"It is ok. Hey, it's getting late I'd better get going,"

"Well see you later than Naruto."

Naruto was about to leave but Ino catches his wrist and spun him around. Naruto was surprised.

"Would you like to hang out tomorrow, Naruto. I mean not like a date, but I enjoyed your company." Ino asks, rather formally.

"Sure Ino, how about we meet at the Hokage monument?" Naruto asks excidedly, like a small child getting a giant lollipop.

"Sure, see you tomorrow at noon then?" Ino responds, she was smiling now.

"Ok, see ya tomorrow than." Naruto says, exiting the house with a smile.

10 minutes later, back at Naruto's rooftop area. _Man what just happened? Wow it's been a really weird night. Ino was actually acting a lot nicer than she normal did. She was pretty cute too...WAIT!! What? I like Sakura, not Ino! I've liked Sakura since I was like 12, I'm 16 now, I can't just throw away all those years of emotional build up and I hardly know In-……… _Naruto's thought trails off as he falls asleep, laying down on his current rooftop.

That's all sorry it was short, but we'll try to get one out next week. Love ya bye, bitches!


	2. Chapter 2

Ino was standing in front of the Hokage monument with a picnic basket in her hand. She got there at 11:55 and it was now exactly noon. _Where is that idiot, he should be here right now. _Ino didn't like a person to even be a second late. Then she heard something from up above her.

"Hey Ino!" Naruto shouted from the nose of Tsunade's face on the mountain.

"Hey Naruto, I thought you were late for a second there." Ino yelled as she jumped up and sat next to Naruto. "How did you get up here with out me noticing?"

"I was here before you." _Way Be fore You..._ Naruto added in his head.

Naruto had actually decided to sleep on the Hokage Monument last night after the owner of the building he had been sleeping on told him to get off. It was much more uncomfortable than the rooftops. I mean have you ever slept on solid stone?

"Why didn't you call for me when I got here earlier then?" She asked in a carefree tone that Naruto had never heard her use before, not that he was around her that often. She was very conversational today.

"I wasn't really paying attention." Naruto lied. Naruto had actually still been asleep.

"If you were here before me, than how come you weren't watching for m-….just forget it." Ino said, giving him the 'its-not-worth-the-breath-it-takes' tone on the last part.

"Ok…what is with the basket?" Naruto asked, pointing at the basket in Ino's hand.

"Lunch, I figured we could eat somewhere around here, it is lunch after all." Ino stated with a smile.

"So like a picnic?" A mischievous grin appeared on Naruto's face.

"Yeah" Ino responded a little creped out by Naruto's grin.

"Well no need to stay around here, come on lets go." with that Naruto grabbed the basket out of Ino's hands and ran up the mountain with Ino chasing behind him.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" Ino shouted.

" Follow me I have the perfect place to eat it." Naruto yelled back.

When they made it to the top of the monument, Naruto continued towards the back of the Hokage monument. They were soon in a small forest settled atop the monument. They walked through until they reached a tree with a large symbol on it that meant 'slugs rule'. Before Ino could even begin to ask why they stopped in front of the tree. Naruto did a quick hand sign that Ino didn't recognize, and then pressed his palm against the symbol on the tree. The symbol began to glow blue, but then went 'poof' and the tree in front of them disappeared and behind it, where there was once bushes, there was now a small cave like entrance that was embedded into a wall of rock. The wall of rock was most likely a small 'blemish' on the mountain. ((Like a smaller mountain of rock on top of the Hokage Monument mountain.)) Again before Ino could ask, Naruto began to run into the cave, and Ino followed. They ran for around a minute before they saw some light at the end of the tunnel.

When they came out of the cave, there was a large dome like area. It had walls of stone surrounding it, making the place look like a bowl. It didn't have a ceiling; it was open to the sky. The whole place probably had the circumference of around 400 yards. The place was covered with beautiful flowers had a large cherry blossom tree in the middle.

"WOW." Ino said in aw as she looked around the place.

"It's Granny Tsunade's secret hideout. She told me everything about it because I won a bet." Naruto smirked. "The bet was if I could eat a hundred large bowls of ramen in a minute. I won one of her coolest secrets, where as she would have one her necklace back." Naruto said proudly, flashing his trademark fox grin.

"Why would someone bet against you about ramen? That's a losing situation for sure." Ino joked. "But what was with the tree poofing, and the handsign?" Ino questioned, as she looked back at where they came through.

"Well, Granny Tsunade put a sealing technique around this place so only a select few can come here. Right now, only Granny Tsunade, Shizune, Sakura, me, and now you know about this place. You have to know the handsign to get in, Granny Tsunade made the hand sign herself. " Naruto answered.

"Wow…..but why show it to me? I could see you telling your crush, Forehead girl, but why show it to a person you hardly know?" Ino asked, now looking Naruto in the eye, for some reason not even known to herself.

"I'm not completely sure why I told you, I just thought it was a good idea." Naruto paused for a moment. "I actually didn't tell Sakura, Granny did."

"Wait, why didn't you tell Sakura, you've been gaga over forehead girl sense like forever ago?" Ino asked, looking him in the eyes again. For some reason, Ino needed to hear his answer.

"I don't know…lately my thoughts have been confusing me, so I honestly don't know." Naruto responded, looking confused.

Ino was confused too. Her thoughts, and even her emotions, have been pretty jumbled for the past day and a half.

Naruto set the picnic basket down under the cherry-blossom tree. He then walked back over to Ino, seeing that she looked deep in thought, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back over to the cherry-blossom tree.

Ino was surprised by Naruto's hand grabbing her own, but didn't resist. In fact she kind of liked it. Naruto's gentle and soft hand holding her own small delicate hand…

They reached the tree and Naruto let go of Ino's hand. Ino suddenly felt cold, like someone had just pulled the warmth away from her body.

Naruto had also felt as if the air got colder right as he, for some reason reluctantly, removed his hand from hers. Naruto was so confused that he hadn't put any sort of tone or emotion in his voice; he actually didn't even know what he had just said.

"Well, you want to eat then?" Naruto said in an impassive tone that Ino had never heard Naruto use.

Ino was surprised to hear the impassive tone coming out of Naruto's mouth, but she shrugged it off and answered him.

"Yeah, I'll spread the blanket." Ino said as she took a blanket out of the basket and began to lay it out on the ground.

Naruto came out of his thoughts when he heard Ino's voice, sweet like honey. When he looked at her, she was bending over and straitening out the blanket. Naruto began to think 'slightly' perverted thoughts and had to physically slap himself, resulting in a red mark on his face and a loud smacking noise. _That is Ino! You are interested in Sakura, and when you are interested in someone else, you don't think about other women that way unless your at least part pervert! YOU ARE NOT A PERVERT!!! _Naruto scolded/reasoned with himself in his mind. At the sound of the slap, Ino turned around and saw Naruto standing there with a red mark on his face in the shape of a large hand.

"What happened?" Ino asked confusedly.

"Nothing, why?" Naruto questioned back.

"Well I heard a 'smack' noise and turned around to see you with, what looks like, a slap mark on your face." Ino responded, walking towards him.

"Well…I uh-" Naruto was just babbling out 'I's and 'Um's now. Ino reached out to him and, without thinking, brought her hand up and caressed his cheek where the mark was.

For both Naruto and Ino, time stopped for a moment. And then they both leaned in towards each, closing their eyes, other without thinking at all. When their lips were mere millimeters apart, Naruto sensed a presence other than Ino and himself in the area and regained his train of thought, pulling away and looking towards the presence without realizing that Ino and him were about to kiss. When Naruto pulled away and looked away, Ino had stopped, because she didn't feel the warm breath on her face that she had a moment before, and opened her eyes to see Naruto in front of her looking towards something. _Holy Kami was I about to kiss Naruto!??!!?!! _Ino screamed at herself inside her head. Ino felt the presence that Naruto had felt moments ago and moved to see around Naruto.

"So Naruto, your using my sanctuary for dates now are you?" questioned Tsunade, who was standing in the entrance to the secret garden.

"What? No you have got it all wrong, this isn't a date, me and Ino are just friends!" Naruto explained as he flailed his arms in the air, blushing slightly. Ino was blushing almost as bad as Hinata did when she was around Naruto, but Ino just let Naruto do the talking.

"Oh, so you kiss all of your female friends in private? Wow, Sakura never told me about something like that." Tsunade mocked as she bit on her lip to stop from laughing.

"KISS?!" Naruto yelled as he flailed his arms and blushed even harder.

"Yes kiss, you know, when you bring your lips to another person's, eyes closed and moving forward like you were just doing." Tsunade said, still holding back laughter.

Naruto didn't say a word; his jaw was dropped almost to the ground. He didn't remember moving in to kiss Ino, but that would explain the hot, moist air he had felt on his face the moment before Granny Tsunade arrived.

"If your senses weren't as sharp as they are, I probably could have watched you two kiss, Or, by the looks of how your heads were cocked, play battle with your tongues." At this point Tsunade couldn't hold back her laughter. She broke out laughing like a mad man-or mad woman rather- and had to hold onto the side of the entrance to keep her self up.

Ino was to busy trying to hold back her blush to do anything but she wouldn't have messed with Tsunade anyway. But of course Naruto would. Naruto was currently clenching his fist.

"HAVE YOU EVER SEEN ME ANGRY!!!? CAUSE I CAN BE JUST AS SCARY AS YOU, YOU BATTY OLD LUSH!!!" Naruto yelled as a vein on his head throbbed and he snarled.

Naruto was partly pissed because Tsunade was laughing, but he was mostly angry because she came there and stopped him from kissing…..Ino. After Naruto came across this thought, his anger level dropped and he looked so confused, he couldn't believe it, he was mad at Tsunade, because she had stopped him from kissing….Ino? Why did was he going to kiss Ino anyway? He was interested in Sakura, not Ino, right? _This is so fucking messed up! _Naruto screamed in his head. _How can I be interested in Ino and not Sakura all of a sudden…..AM I interested in Ino? _He asked himself, meanwhile out side of his body, he had gone from incredibly enraged, to a completely blank face.

"Hey Naruto, what happened to all that anger from a second ago?" questioned an embarrassed Ino from behind him.

"Um…" that's all Naruto said before turning away from Ino, trying to hide a blush, but he was glaring at Tsunade because she could see him blushing. Tsunade kept quiet, she realized what a delicate/complicated situation she was messing with here.

"Well, you two are going to have to leave, becau-" Tsunade stopped, because she realized that Naruto and Ino were already silently packing up their picnic supplies.

Well the two teens were packing up there picnic blanket, their hands touched as they were trying to fold the blanket up. They had both pulled there hand away like they were touching boiling water, they blushed immediately afterwards, turning way from each other and mumbling a sorry before beginning to fold up the blanket again. Tsunade saw this and got a conniving smirk on her face. As she thought: _If I could get those to knuckle-heads to realize that they want each other, then I wouldn't only be Hokage, Sannin, and Medial Ninja extraordinaire, but also the worlds best matchmaker!!! Muw ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!_

When Tsunade came back out of her weird matchmaker thoughts, she realized that Naruto and Ino had already left and she was standing in the garden alone.

"Dam it…" Tsunade grumbled before going about her business.

Meanwhile.

Ino and Naruto were now outside of the Secret entrance to the garden and were jumping down the Hokage monument. When they reached the bottom, Ino broke the silence.

"So, were we really….about to kiss?" Ino asked nervously, while blushing.

"I guess…maybe it was just….the moment or something, it can happen to anyone…" Naruto lied as he scratched the back of his head. Ino could tell that he was lying.

"Well, sense we didn't really eat, do you want to have a picnic tomorrow?" Ino hesitantly asked.

"I don't have any missions tomorrow, so I don't see why not." Naruto stated, bringing his hands behind his head and giving his fox-grin.

"See ya tomorrow at the flower shop then?" Ino asked.

"Sure." Is all Naruto said as they both began to head their separate towards their own houses. Hinata left the area too, as she thought of ways to get Naruto to love her. Naruto wasn't exactly going to a house, he was heading around the corner, and then he jumped towards the Yamanaka Flower Shop. Naruto was going to sleep on the flower shops roof tonight so he wouldn't have to go far to meet her tomorrow. He landed on the roof and soon lied down and fell into a really deep sleep.

Later that night at around 12:00 midnight, Ino was walking up the stairs that led to the roof of the Yamanaka Flower Shop.

Ino couldn't get to sleep and she wanted to go to the flower shop, so she had left her house and came to the flower shop. She had arranged some flowers, but got bored and began to head up to roof.

When Ino got to the roof, she was shocked to find Naruto sleeping on a corner of the rooftop. She walked over to him and shook his body a bit. There was no response, but Ino could tell he was alive because of his chest moving up and down. He was in a very deep sleep by the looks of it.

"Why are you up here?" Ino mumbled the question, basically to herself sense Naruto was asleep.

Ino then ran back down the stairs and grabbed a blanket. She brought the blanket up to the roof top and put it over Naruto. _He looks adorable when he's asleep…wait a minute…Argh! I'm sick of this, I've been thinking like that about him all day, just out of the blue!!! I wish this wasn't so confusing…_

Ino then headed across the rooftops, back to her apartment, for some reason, she thought she could sleep now.


	3. Chapter 3

Yo this is going to be the last actual chapter in awhile mainly because I'll be gone. Andy may do some fillers, but this chapter could be it for a few weeks.

It was about nine o'clock in the morningand Naruto was fast a sleep on the rooftop of the flower shop with Ino looking over him._ He really is kinda cute. I wonder why he's not at his apartment?_

"Uhhn," Naruto stirred inhis sleep. He opened one eye and was surprised to see Ino standing in front of him. "Ino! Umm, hey I umm." he babbled as he flailed his hands around, both eyes now opened wide.

"Decided to sleep on the roof of my flower shop like a bum?" Ino finished for him well glaring at him, just to see his scared reaction.

"No it's not like that," Naruto looked down and noticed the blanket on him "Who's is this?" Naruto said, quickly changing the subject.

"That would be mine" Ino stated in a matter of fact tone.

"Yours? When did you…?" Naruto was so confused he had a hard time finishing his sentence.

"I put it on you last night. You looked so pathetic that I just couldn't help but put a blanket on you." Ino teased.

"What time is it?" Naruto asked in a sleepy tone, changing the subject again.

"Nine-ish. Want to go get some breakfast at my house?" Ino asked, still amused by Naruto's confused expression and tired face.

"Sure." Naruto stated as he yawned and stretched out.

"Come on," Ino led a sleepy Naruto down the stairs of the flower shop, and out the door.

"Your really nice today Ino, I mean, like you can be scary sometimes, but today your-" Naruto didn't finish his sentence for at that very moment Ino's fist met Naruto's nose.

"Ass!" Ino glared again

"OW!" exclaimed Naruto holding his (probably broken) nose. "What was that for?" Naruto whimpered.

"Scary? I'll have you know that I'm always nice!" Proudly exclaimed the blond headed girl.

"Sure you are…" said Naruto in a totally sarcastic tone.

"Why yo-" She caught his sarcasm but decided it was to much trouble to argue the point. "…I'm glad we agree on something, now come on lets get moving." Ino said, grabbing Naruto's hand and dragging him to her flower filled home. Naruto was blushing all the while Ino held his hand. Once inside, Naruto followed the girl into the kitchen. The kitchen was filled with flowers too. One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten potted plants in the kitchen alone. Besides the flowers, the kitchen was basically ordinary, except for the beautiful smell.

"So what are we going to eat?" asked the blond boy.

"Well, I have some eggs and stuff, so I figured we could make an omelet." Ino said as she looked in the refrigerator for some ingredients.

"Ok, what do you need me to do?" Naruto asked with a smile.

"Nothing just stay out of my way." Ino said turning around with eggs, peppers, tomatoes, and bacon in her arms. Naruto walked over and sat down in a chair. Naruto watched as Ino began preparation to make an omelet. He was unconsciously watching her every move.

55 minutes later, after 3 bad omelets, Ino was fuming.

"Why won't these things just cook right!?" Ino screamed as she threw a burnt omelet at the refrigerator, causing the omelet to go all over the place. "Shit!" Ino shouted as she ran over to clean up the mess, but a hand stopped her and she followed the hand to see Naruto with an amused look on his face, most likely amused by her lack of cooking ability.

"I'll handle it." Is all Naruto said before performing his signature hand seal. "Shadow Clone No Jutsu." Naruto said as a shadow clone appeared. "Clean up that mess." Naruto ordered his clone. The shadow clone began it's task without question. Naruto turned back to Ino and gave his fox grin.

"Thanks…I guess." Ino said sadly, now sad because she couldn't even make an omelet.

"Come on." Naruto said as he walked towards the stove and motioned for her to follow.

"Why?" Ino asked in a what-the-fuck-are-you-doing tone.

"Helping you make an omelet." Naruto said with a calm/serene tone, and with the same style of expression as his tone of voice.

_When did he get so charming? _Ino asked in her head as she walked over to Naruto.

"So your telling me that you know how to make an omelet?" Ino asked in an as-if way.

"Why is that so hard to believe?" Naruto asked as he prepped the pan for the omelet, still using that same tone of voice.

"Well…cause you're Naruto." Ino said as she watched him crack the eggs perfectly into the pan.

"Thanks Ino…" Naruto mumbled in a slightly hurt tone.

"I don't mean it that way…it is just unexpected that the village prankster and ramen addict can cook." Ino justified quickly as Naruto stood there in front of the stove.

"Yeah…I know…" Naruto said sadly, but still slightly using his, as Ino thought of it as, 'charming' voice. "Come on, I said I'd help you, not do it for you." Naruto said as he stepped back from the stove and motioned towards the stove. Ino reluctantly walked in front of the stove and grabbed the spatula.

Ino watched the egg, but wasn't exactly a pro at noticing when it needed to be flipped. Naruto knew that it needed to be flipped, and since Ino had the only spatula, and he was behind her, he simply came closer behind her and brought his arm up and around her body to grab her hand, and flipped the omelet in one quick motion. Naruto's head was hovering over Ino's shoulder now. Ino tuned her head to look at his, but accidentally looked into his eyes well doing so and sat there, unconsciously, starring at Naruto who was watching the omelet.

_Why does he have to be so handsome!? _Ino screamed inside her head, still starring at Naruto's face.

Naruto, realizing that she might hit him if he stayed holding her hand and hovering behind her, let go of her hand and took a step back. Once Naruto stepped back, he noticed that Ino was starring at where his head just was, in a serene trance like state. After a moment, Ino must have realized that Naruto wasn't there any more and seemed to frown slightly.

"Yo Ino, why the sad face?" Naruto questioned. Obviously, Naruto was still pretty dense.

"What sad face?" Ino quickly asked as she turned her head back to the omelet, hiding a blush.

"Forget it…" Naruto responded in a confused tone. Naruto then took a couple steps to stand next to her, making sure she would flip it on time.

Naruto was surprised that when he was nearly embracing Ino, it felt great. What he was really surprised about was the fact that Ino hadn't said anything about it.

After a while, and Naruto explaining to Ino when to flip an omelet and when to put the other toppings in, the first omelet was done and Ino started the second one, but this time she was going to try by herself. Naruto sat down and began eating the first omelet so it wouldn't get cold. As Naruto ate, Ino was thinking about things as she made the omelet.

_Wonder if Naruto still has a crush on Sakura?_ Ino asked in her mind. If not then I should ask hi- _What am I saying!? If I date Naruto, everyone would laugh at me! _Ino reasoned with herself in her head as she was not paying attention to the omelet anymore, being in a trance like state. The omelet was already burnt, but was beginning to actually start on fire. Soon enough Naruto smelled something burning and got up from the table to try and see the omelet. Realizing that it was on fire, Naruto shouted to Ino.

"Ino!!!" Naruto yelled, but she seemed to be in a really deep trance and the omelet that was on fire got big enough to begin to burn Ino's clothing on her stomach area. "Dam It Ino!!!" Naruto yelled as he embraced Ino and pulled her away from the stove, as his still active shadow clone used the "Water Ball" Jutsu to put out the fire and turn off the stove.

"Ino!" Naruto yelled as he spun her around to face him and shook her shoulders.

"What?" Ino asked, as she came out of her now finished thoughts about the many reasons not to date Naruto, and the many reasons that she should date Naruto.

"You just about started yourself on fire!" Naruto half yelled. For some reason, Naruto felt so incredibly worried about her, it was only a small fire, and it was no big deal for a ninja. He couldn't think about anything else but making sure she didn't do it again, by doing the thing that he had always hated since the academy days, giving a lecture.

"I did!?" Ino asked well half yelling, obviously very surprised.

"Yes, you did! You shouldn't do that kind of stuff when you're doing things that need attention! What were you thinking about so deeply that you didn't even know that your top was on fire!?" Naruto lectured. He had noticed Ino blush when she heard that last question, but then she looked down at her top, hiding her face with her one big strand of hair that was always there.

_I can't believe that I burnt my top and almost started the kitchen on fire, and I was that zoned out over thinking about dating Naruto or not. _

"You're doing it again." Naruto said, still holding her shoulders. Realizing this, he quickly took his hands off her shoulders.

"Sorry…" Ino mumbled sadly, still looking down. She wasn't hitting him because she knew he had a right to be angry, but why he seemed more worried about her than angry was beyond her comprehension. Ino was obviously being slightly dense too.

"…I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have just lectured you like that, or yelled at you, I'm not your dad, I don't have the authority to do that…" Naruto apologized, still shocked at his former state of worry.

Suddenly the still active shadow clone spoke.

"Don't you two have the hots for each other?" The clone asked rehitoricaly. "Obviously clones aren't nearly as dense as you two." The clone snickered.

"How does me lecturing her make us seem like that." Naruto yelled well both of them were now blushing madly.

"I've been here the whole time, and he," the clone pointed at Naruto. "was extremely worried about you," the clone gestured to Ino. "and Naruto over here isn't exactly a worry-wart so he must really like you to be that worried. Ino was starring afectionitly at-" The clone didn't finish because both Ino and Naruto punched it and it went 'poof'.

"Crazy Clone!" Naruto shouted, a vein throbbing on his head. Naruto was actually wondering if every time he made a clone it was that smart. What the clone said actually made a lot of sense to Naruto, but its not like he was going to let Ino know that and then reject him. He was sure that one of the world's biggest Sasuke fan girls would reject him.

"Yeah, stupid clone, huh?" Ino asked rhetorically as she continued to blush. Then a knock came at the door. Thankfully distracting them from what the clone said.

Ino and Naruto walked to the door and opened it to find Kiba.

"I've been looking everywhere for you, if somebody hadn't told me they saw you come here, I would have never found you." Kiba said to Naruto as he dug in his pack for something. "I went to your place but the landlord said you'd been evicte-" Kiba had no chance to finish because Naruto covered his mouth with his hand. Kiba realized that Naruto was trying to keep that information secret, knocked Naruto's hand off but didn't finish his last sentence as he continued to dig in his pouch. "So are you two like dating or something?" Kiba asked and as a result got to see Naruto and Ino blush before getting hit in the head by two fists.

"NO!!!" Naruto and Ino shouted in unison as they pulled their fists away from Kiba's head.

"OWWWW!!! You didn't have to hit me!" Kiba found what he had been looking for in his pouch and handed it to Naruto. It was a small scroll. Naruto opened it and read through it. Kiba said goodbye to Ino and jumped away, not wanting to get yelled at or hit anymore.

"We'll have to reschedule the picnic, I've got an escort mission in about 20 minutes." Naruto said sadly as he put the scroll in his pouch.

"Ok." Is all Ino said before suddenly Kiba landed in front of them.

"You too." Kiba said to Ino. " I forgot that you're supposed to go on that mission too." Kiba said as he leaped away again, being the Hokage's personal messenger-ninja made him a very busy person.

"Why would they need a Jounin and a Chunnin for a C ranked escort mission?" Naruto asked as he began to walk towards the North Gate with Ino right along side him.

"Who knows, maybe the guys really important." Ino responded as they walked.

They soon reached the North gate where the mission was going to begin. They were supposed to be supplied with packs of food and such so they didn't need to stop and get ready. Tsunade and a man that they didn't recognize were standing in front of the gate.

"Hey Granny Tsunade." Naruto greeted as they reached Tsunade and the man. Naruto was then hit over the head by Tsunade.

"Stop calling me that, you little idiot!" Tsunade yelled, a vein throbbing on her head. Quickly changing the subject, Tsunade began the small briefing. "Back to business, as you know from the scroll, you will be escorting this man to Suna. I've asked this man to video tape Naruto because I want to know how he can handle a simple situation like if you were to be attacked by bandits."

"I can handle S-Rank missing-nins, a few bandits are like dust particles hitting me." Naruto said looking away and crossing his arms, nose in the air like a child.

"'Particles' is a pretty big word for you isn't it?" Ino asked playfully. Tsunade smirked at this and Naruto just let out a 'humph'. Tsunade began to get that weird facial expression that means she just can't be thinking anything good.

_My plan is working already! They already get along in a loudmouth relationship way. By the time my plan is done, they'll be engaged! Or something close to that… _Tsunade finished her thoughts to find Ino, Naruto, and the guy staring at her like she was insane.

"What are you looking at!? Your bags are over there, take them and get out of my face!" Tsunade yelled.

"No need to bite our heads off." The only one in the group who dared to oppose Tsunade's wrath said. Naruto was awarded with another lump on his head to add to his incredible collection. "OW! You didn't have to hit me!" Naruto shouted as he picked up his pack with one hand and nursed his head with the other hand.

"You deserved it!" Tsunade shouted. Tsunade then turned to the man that they were escorting. "I assure you that they will keep you safe, Mr. Yuki." Tsunade told the man and the man nodded as Tsunade gave off her mischievous grin.

"Then lets get this over with." Ino mumbled to Naruto as they both motioned for the man to come. Ino then spoke to the man. "Lets get started then, the sooner you get too Suna the better." The man followed the two ninja without a word. Tsunade just waved bye to them and they were off.

When Naruto, Ino, and Mr. Yuki were gone, Shizune came up with a disappointed look on her face.

"That's the same guy you used to get Neji and Tenten together isn't it." Shizune asked, half sweat dropping.

"Its perfect, I have him secretly attempt to get them together and also video tape everything for me to watch later." Tsunade said as she grinned like a deranged donkey.

"If I didn't know better, I would swear you're a pervert Lady Tsunade." Shizune said as she fully sweat dropped.

"Of course not, I just want to be the ultimate match maker." Tsunade said in a matter of fact way.

"But you said that you were the ultimate match maker when you got Neji and Tenten together."

"Yes I did, but now I'm taking a challenge by trying to get two knuckleheaded loudmouths together." Tsunade explained.

"Fine, but why you would go as far as making a fake mission is beyond me though." Shizune said in an I-give-up way.

"That is why you're single Shizune." Tsunade said.

"You're single too, Lady Tsunade." Shizune said, obviously holding back anger.

"As far as you know I am." Tsunade said, walking away with a broad grin on her face.

"Who is it!?" Shizune yelled as she scrambled after her master, not believing what Tsunade just said.

"That is for me to know, and you to find out if I ever get married." Tsunade said well she cackled like a mad woman. Shizune was still shocked.

Back with Naruto, Ino, and Mr. Yuki. Mr. Yuki had already begun to video tape Naruto and they were walking at a fair pace. Little did they know that the man wasn't just taping Naruto, but the two ninjas' reactions towards each other.


End file.
